Higher Oil Prices Could Jeopardize India’s Economy

India—the world’s third-largest oil importer—is one of the biggest losers of the higher oil prices in recent months, as the increased price of oil widens its trade deficit, puts more upside pressure on inflation that threatens to exceed government targets, and risks reducing current projections for robust economic growth. All this is happening while Indian politicians and consumers (voters) face a series of elections this year and next, with a general election expected to be held in the spring of 2019. In March 2018, India paid a nearly 14-percent higher crude oil import bill than in March 2017. The value in U.S. dollars of India’s oil imports—accounting for more than 80 percent of its oil consumption—in the fiscal year April 2017-March 2018 rose by 25.47 percent compared to the previous fiscal year, government trade data shows. In early April, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Bloomberg that oil prices […]